Gothic Ale | Triumph Brewing Company

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Reviews by GnomeKing:

So, the story begins a thousand years ago, when brewers would put a mix of herbs, collectively called "gruit," into beers for flavoring and bittering. At least that's what the menu says. The bartender described the gruit as a substitute for hops, but unlike heather or other floral substitutes, gruit doesn't hold its own. This beer is really defanged. It's like a wimpy winter beer, with no bite, or even a bark. The herbs impart a taste that is vaguely like cinnamon and other familiar accents. Nothing exotic, unfortunately.

The herbs do make for a decent smell, and the beer's hazy unfiltered look is nice.

For historical purposes, ask for a sample...and then order something else.

The color of this beer is a gorgeous deep amber with wonderful hues appearing when the light hits it. No head, which is not a surprise, and minimal lacing. But that color...

A very different and interesting aroma that was herbal and mildly sweet. It's difficult to tell the herbs used, but rosemary is present.

Sweet and bready malts stand out, with the herbs adding balance and cutting the sweetness. Again rosemary is all I can recognize, but it does not overwhelm or stand out. The mixture of bread, earthiness, herbs, and fruit is very nice. No bitterness, but a light level of acidity is present instead.

Medium-bodied, a little sticky, and incredibly soft. I have never had a beer that felt this soft on the tongue. Little if any carbonation, as expected from a cask.

Decent drinkability - the beer tasted great and goes down easy, but I would want to switch to something more conventional after a pint.

Poured from the tap at Princeton this beer looked like a typical "old" beer if we could know what that is.
A nice frothy head covered a deep amber brew that showed little carbonation. The aroma was interesting and not easy to describe with a distant floral essence. It had a malty flavor with a background of herbs that I would say substituted for the hops that appeared to be missing. A short supply of burnt malt could explain a facet of the taste as you roll it over the taste buds.
I had one pint of this and will consider homebrewing a gruit in the future.

Triumph's Gothic Ale is made in the ancient gruit ale style, using herbs in place of hops. The pint pulled from the cask had a deep amber color with a nice fluffy head which left little lacing as I drained the glass. The beer had a strong earthy herb scent, with a particular emphasis on rosemary, although the sweet bread-like malt was also discernible. The palate has sweet malt balanced with strong acidity and herbs. Rosemary also emerges in the acidic finish. The beer flowed across the palate with a medium body with little carbonation, as expected from a cask ale. The beer is unique and different and deserves credit for that, overall a decent ale. I definitely recommend trying the beer from the "Age of Chivalry."

I was able to get this Triumph brew on cask at the Princeton Triumph on 3/1/08. They served it to me in tall euro style pint glass. Their chalkboard said that this beer had an ABV% of 5.4%. Not much of a difference from the ABV% listed here on BA.

This Gruit poured a clear amber that looked like there was a tiny tint of cranberry red that was blended in with the amber. It had a tall 1 inch head of white foam with decent retention that left behind a few white foamy rings and spots of white lace. It had a mild fruity based aroma with quite a few spices behind it. The only spice I recognized was the rosemary. They said it yarrow in it, but I have no idea what that smells like. Whatever it smells like, I'm sure it was in there somewhere. The taste was slightly dry with lightly toasted malts, red grapes, and big mixture (secret blend) of spices. It was hard to tell what the spices were. They all just blended in together. It was clearly a light beer that had a soft aftertaste of fruit and spices. For me, it was fun to try this unique style on cask. A must try if they have this one on cask.